Chapter Five
Trask kept Lana tucked close to his side as they shuttled rather than teleported down to the surface. He didn’t intend to risk the intense side effects his mate had to the process. Soon, she wouldn’t have to. Once home, with her feet planted firmly on Primarian soil there would be no reason to leave ever again.
At a startled gasp from her, he glanced down and saw the rapt excitement on her beautiful face. He followed her gaze to the window, knowing what he’d see. When they broke through the atmosphere, leaving the blackness of space behind, the first glimpse of Primaria in its stunning array of brilliant color always brought an indescribable sense of comfort, of coming home, which never got old.
“Beautiful doesn’t come close to describing it,” she said, so in awe her voice came out just this side of a whisper.
“No matter how many times I see our home from up here, I find it breathtaking.”
“The colors are unusual and so vivid. We don’t have much left in our world any longer, mostly varying shades of brown.”
“It is a shame about your Earth, but it brought you out exploring, so I can’t say I’m sorry.”
A tightness marred her expression when she transferred her gaze from the spectacular view to him. “We left billions of people behind, as well as war, natural disasters, and so much suffering. Excuse me if I say you have a very narrow view of the universe for a world leader and a well-traveled general.”
As criticism went, it was a direct hit. The initial decision to take them as mates was spontaneous. They saw something they wanted and went after it. But to further, and pursue their ship, which the commander of their fleet was in the process of doing at that very moment was a deliberate, aggressive, selfish move, though not undertaken lightly.
His people were suffering and had for a long time. Now, they would have hope of a future. The same couldn’t be said for Lana’s species. Once they had all the new females settled with their new mates, perhaps they could come up with a plan to help the humans. He didn’t suggest this to her, however. Much would have to be decided before he ever thought to, and it would have to begin with a conversation with Kerr. Trask knew his friend had struggled with the decision from day one no matter how much the end was justified.
That chance to do so was days away. All eight warriors with new mates were on leave for the next few days, given time to help their females adjust and because no work would be accomplished with the hunger burning in their veins constantly. His next official duty was another formal dinner, five days away, this time with the entire elder council of twelve and several hundred citizens by invitation only. This meant teaching her more rules, a necessity, but not something he relished since the first few times hadn’t gone over well at all.
The shuttle jerked suddenly, knocking Lana forward. If not for his hold on her, she would have gone slamming into the interior wall. He clasped her more firmly around the waist as he took a seat and pulled her down next to him.
“This next part can be a little bumpy; you should strap in.”
She twisted, pulled out the retractable harness, and with his help, buckled it around her. He tugged the ends to remove the excess slack where an apparently much larger warrior had used it before her. Once satisfied it sat snugly around her chest and hips, he sat back.
“What about you?” she asked when he made no move to do the same.
“I’m well over twice your weight. It will take more than a few air pockets to take me off my feet. Besides, I’m used to it.” He pointed out the side window. “Look there. You can see Ariad, our capital city.”
“It’s all white in a sea of color.”
“We learned long ago not to try to compete with the natural beauty around us. We do have some interesting architecture and use different textures to help us tell all the white buildings apart.”
“Where is your home? Will we be able to see it from up here?”
“No, the shuttle landing is on the outskirts of town. I have a residence on a side street a few blocks from the heart of town. It’s quiet, which is what I prefer.”
They fell silent, watching the city on the horizon get larger as they approached. While he was happy to be home, at last, Lana’s next question spoke to her anxiety.
“What will I do here, Trask? I’m used to working, and domesticity has never been my strong suit.”
“We’ll find something for you to do. Our Prima usually stays quite busy doing works of charity for those who live beyond Ariad. We have wealth from natural resources, but that has come about only in the last twenty years. We still have many outlying communities who keep to the old ways and need assistance, mostly with education and encouragement to accept the changes of modernization. You’re close to the Princep’s mate; she’ll need help with all of that.”
She nodded but didn’t appear convinced.
“You also have a mate to see to, and children will come along soon to keep you busy enough.”
“And how many children were you expecting?”
“Perhaps six”—he shrugged—“but I’ll take as many as the Maker decides.”
She stared back at him with wide eyes, appearing stunned.
“I come from a family of two children which is small by Primarian standards, or it used to be. I’d prefer more.”
“But six! Great day in the morning, you’re kidding, right?”
“Don’t you like children?”
“I don’t know. I was an only child.”
“But you planned to have them someday, surely.”
“I never really thought about it. I’m a career woman, Trask. I expected to be traveling the world, digging up rocks and studying volcanoes in exotic locations.” She looked out the window, and said vaguely, “Fate had other things in mind for me, it seems.”
“Fate had me in mind for you. Or you wouldn’t be sitting beside me now.”
She glanced at him, a small wistful smile curving her lips. “You're a true believer in destiny, aren't you?”
“Yes, as are all my people. Things happen for a reason, Lana. Often, we don’t understand the reason, but we still must strive to do the best we can on the path we are set upon.”
Abruptly, the shuttle jerked and bounced as it encountered more air pockets during descent. As she bounced and jerked along with it, his little mate grabbed hold of his thigh, not near the knee but much higher. As with any touch from her, his body reacted.
He silently told his cock to stand down. This morning when she arose, she’d been tender again, moving cautiously, and when they’d gone to breakfast in the main dining room, she winced when she sat on one of the unpadded chairs.
He wasn’t such a beast he would use her to the point of pain, no matter the hunger that burned inside him. He had another week of this constant yearning then their five or six times a day would reduce to twice, upon waking and at bedtime. Three times if he came home for the midday meal, which he planned to.
The poorly mastered part of him twitched painfully in his suddenly too-tight uniform trousers. He tried to shift, without her knowing, but the subtle movement caught her eye. Her gaze homed in on his crotch, which didn’t help the hardness abate.
Some of the color left her face. “I can’t. I can barely sit now.”
“Pay it no mind; I’m certainly trying to. I promised you a break until bedtime, and I mean to stick to my vow.”
She bit her lip, a habit that stirred him as much as her touch. When she released it, the plump pink flesh gleamed wet.
Shifting to relieve the constriction in his trousers, though it did little good, he tried to refocus on the city growing larger as they drew near, which wasn’t much of a distraction.
“Trask…”
“Not to worry, as I said, little one.”
“But this hunger you have, its uncomfortable for you.”
“I’m a grown man. I can, and have, endured worse.”
“We can do other things, can’t we? I hate to see you hurting.”
The concern in her voice made him turn despite his determination not to. Unable to resist, he lightly stroked a finger down her soft cheek and across her lips, the bottom one still wet and turned down in a slight pout. “I appreciate your concern, mate, but need I remind you, we tried other things yesterday, and I still ended up inside you.”
Color flooded her face, and she glanced at the others nervously. “I meant with, um…” She leaned in, her lips brushing lightly against his ear, her breath a warm rush as she whispered, “I could use my mouth, not just my hand.”
A low groan rushed up and out of him before he could stop it. He cleared his throat as cover. “Change of subject, until we get to our residence and I let you.”
“Let me?” she asked, but the little twitch at the corners of her mouth told him she wasn’t quite so naïve about the effect she was having on him as she seemed.
His hand curled around her nape as he bent his mouth to her ear this time. “I look forward to having your pretty mouth on my cock, but if you don’t stop talking about it, making me want to take you here and now or go insane from the wanting, after we’re done, I’ll show you what teasing a warrior gets you.” He heard her quick intake of breath, and added, “That means you’ll be naked across my knees with your pert little bottom pointed upward feeling the flat of my hand.”
“Yeah, I think I got that.”
“Just so we’re clear.”
It was her turn to shift restlessly in her seat, but she conceded softly, “As you wish.” When he released her, to lean back in his seat, a sideways glance revealed a hint of a smile.
He cursed inwardly. In the prime of his life, healthy, strong, the stamina of a man half his age, but in the span of a week, his new mate was going to be the death of him. Another quick glance caught the tip of her pink tongue disappearing inside, the residual slickness it left gleaming on her mouth. His cock jerked, and he suppressed another embarrassing groan thinking there wasn’t a better way to go.
***
His hand curled under her chin, the other held her head steady with the heel at her temple and his fingers threaded through her soft hair. His neck was bent sharply forward as he watched his cock slid over her tongue into the warm, wet recess of her mouth.
They hadn’t made it past the entryway, damn his lack of control. But she didn’t appear concerned or disgusted she’d been mated to an inconsiderate rutting beast. Instead, she knelt on the floor at his feet as though she couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
In the light pouring in through the skylight, her pale hair gleamed where it tumbled down her back. And her body, bare after he’d stripped her gown over her head seconds ago, glowed in the pink sunshine.
“Beautiful,” he groaned as her tongue licked up the underside then swirled around the head.
She didn’t stop, but the dark fan of her lashes swept up. When she found him watching, she didn’t hesitate to open wider and take more.
“No, Lana, not so much. I’ll choke you.”
Her reply came out mumbled with her mouth full of him. He guided her head back until only the tip rested on her lips.
“What was that?”
“I said I don’t care. You taste incredible.”
“That you enjoy it bodes well for me, sweet mate, except relaxed and easy suits me better this first time.”
She nodded and resumed at a more sedate pace but was soon back to gobbling him down hungrily. Her tongue stayed busy, swirling round and round the head and the constant suction felt incredible. He would quickly lose control and spill in her mouth if she didn’t stop.
“Lana, it’s too good,” he warned. “Slow down, or I may be the only one to enjoy this.”
She pulled off and wrapped both hands around his length. “I don’t think so, General. I’m have a wonderful time, thank you.” Giving him a cheeky grin, she didn’t obey, instead, squeezing as she pumped her fists up and down. Next, she applied the flat of her tongue to the underside, licking from base to head before she teased the opening lightly with the tip. He groaned, all his fingers tangled in her hair now.
“I’m very close.”
“Good,” she whispered, eyes sparkling with desire and a healthy dose of mischief. “I want to bring you as much pleasure as you’ve given me.”
Then, she opened wide and engulfed him once again, sucking hard as she bobbed up and down, taking half the length of his shaft while her hands worked the rest.
He wasn’t close anymore, he was there, shouting her name, shuddering violently, and pouring his seed down her throat. And, she took every single drop.
Sinking to his knees, he gathered her to his heaving chest. “You are amazing, wonderfully responsive, and so eager to please, but this...” He exhaled long and unsteady. “It was a gift I never expected.”
She pulled away, angling her head back to see him. The color in her cheeks heightened to a becoming rosiness when she asked, “You mean Primarian women don’t, um…swallow?”
“Not that I’m aware of, no.”
She pursed her slightly swollen, still-glistening lips pensively. “Few Earth women do, so I hear. I certainly never thought I’d ever want to.” Her gaze dipped to his chest when she added, “Yet I didn't give it a second thought. You are to blame, obviously, because you taste slightly sweet—quite yummy.”
This made him chuckle. “Then we have your sweet tooth to thank for this beautiful moment.”
Her flashing blue-green eyes came back to his. There was very little brown left now, and it diminished each time they joined. “It wasn’t my sweet tooth that needed indulging. I wanted to see you shake and sweat and come apart for a change.”
“You watched?”
She nodded. “You’re gorgeous, Trask, all the time, but when you come… Wowza!”
All this talk of coming reminded him she hadn't yet. An oversight he intended to rectify at once. With an arm behind her back and the other hooked around her thighs, he anchored her across his body and stood, striding to the stairs.
Her arms wound around his neck, her fingers twining in his hair, something she seemed to enjoy because she did it so often. “You're always carrying me. I can walk, you know.”
“This is fastest when I want you in my bed. Are you complaining?”
“Hardly,” she sighed, while snuggling closer. “But I’m not the one who came while shouting loud enough to rattle the skylights.”
“No, but you soon will be. Save your strength; you’ll need it.”
“But I thought you said I’d earned a reprieve.”
“That was before teasing me on the shuttle and ignoring my order to go easy just now.”
Her face jerked back from his neck and she eyed him suspiciously. “Why do I get the feeling we’re not talking about sex?”
“Because we aren’t.”
Her jaw dropped. “You mean you’d spank me? After I… On my knees… And then I… You have got to be kidding!”
He was hard-pressed to keep from laughing as she stammered in outrage.
“As you proved so beautifully from your knees, joining isn’t necessary to give pleasure, and spankings don’t always necessitate pain.”
She had no reply to this at all, only gaped at him.
“Do you recall the many times I’ve asked you to trust me, mate?”
Her response was to nod slowly.
“Good, the time to do so is now. After I warm your backside, be prepared to do some sweating, shuddering, and coming apart of your own, several times over.” At the top of the stairs, he turned left, moving quickly toward the door at the end of the corridor while he explained the rest of his plans for her. “I won’t come into you, not until later, but I will taste your sweet nectar again and with all those promises to keep, will likely feast on you until I’m glutted.”
She hid her face in his neck once more and wondered aloud, “Has anyone ever expired from too many orgasms?”
“No, and since we have all day, and me not having duties for five more, I intend to prove it.”
“Mercy,” she half breathed, half moaned.
He increased his pace, eager to hear the same sounds with the taste of her filling his mouth as he sank his tongue into her sweet pussy.
***
Much later, at least four screaming climaxes later for Lana and one more for Trask, they moved to the back patio and lay entwined on a thickly padded lounger, watching the sunset over Ariad. At least he was. She was still, curled into his side, her cheek on his chest, and from her silence, and the steady rise and fall of her chest, he suspected his mate had nodded off.
Lightly, so as not to disturb her, he moved his hand from where he had it draped around her waist to the curve of her bottom. He could feel the slight warmth through the thin cloth of her dress and recalled the lovely rosy color of her skin when he spanked her. Not hard, with no intention to punish, only to please. As promised, he’d taken her over his lap and applied the flat of his hand to her round cheeks. In between light smacks, he’d rubbed and squeezed, and gently glided his fingers into the haven between her thighs—she’d been drenched—and came to climax soon after, beautifully and loudly.
He’d used his mouth to bring her to completion twice more. Then, in something she called a ‘69’, she’d crawled on top, and while she worked his cock with her hands, lips, and tongue, he’d buried his face between her thighs and brought her to climax number four, which coincided with the second release she gave him.
He angled his chin enough to kiss the soft, fragrant hair on top of her head and sighed with deep satisfaction. Was there ever a warrior quite so lucky as him? In a matter of days, she’d gone from a frightened yet defiant captive, to a warm, willing, wonderfully wanton woman. His woman.
He hoped the others, Kerr with his troublesome Prima, and Ram, challenged more so than any of them with his strong-minded female warrior, were having half the success he was with their mate-bonding.
“Brother dear, are you home?”
The familiar greeting wafting through the open doorway made him close his eyes and wish his visitor away. He loved his sister, but Adria’s timing was deplorable.
“Trask, why was there a dress on the floor in your entryway?”
Her voice grew louder, and he could hear her footsteps on the tile floor as she approached. He wore only his trousers, put on as an afterthought once he’d given Lana one of his shirts to wear before carrying her outside. Otherwise, they’d be giving his sister a naked eyeful.
She’d learn after today not to enter his home unannounced. Before his mate’s arrival, he wouldn’t have cared, but now, she could find them in any unclothed state, in any room, doing anything. The recent scene in the entryway came to mind, which would have shocked his unmated sibling to her toes.
“Oh, I, um…didn’t expect you’d have, uh…company,” Adria stammered from the doorway, clearly startled to find him lounging with a strange woman in his arms.
His people weren’t prudes by any means, but they were discreet. Liaisons between unmatched males and females occurred but never where someone could walk in and find them in a compromising state. But this was his private home, and he had every intention of enjoying it with his mate, so he didn't attempt to move.
“I’ll just, um…go.” Her voice had risen to a high-pitched squeak, and she whirled to flee.
“Wait,” he called, stopping her but also waking Lana. Damn.
“What’s going on?” she asked drowsily.
“We have company, mate.”
“Mate?” Adria exclaimed. “Oh, Trask, I’d heard the news, but never dreamed you were one of the fortunate warriors.”
“Come meet Lana,” he encouraged, as he sat up, helping his slightly disoriented, still half-asleep woman to do so as well.
“She’s lovely,” his sister cooed excitedly. “But so small. Even I will top her by several inches. And that golden hair. What color are her eyes—” Lana glanced her way stopping her rush of words. “Oh, Trask, they are yours. She has transformed already. How exciting!”
“There is no need to talk around her; she has a translator.”
Next to him, his mate commented in a voice still husky from sleep, “Thank you. I was wondering if it would be rude of me to break in and mention that myself.”
Sounds of sobbing had them both staring at the young woman weeping in the doorway. Trask indulgently, because his sister tended to be emotional, and Lana in horror.
“I’m sorry. I meant no offense by my remark, and certainly didn’t intend to make you cry.” She scrambled out of his arms and to her feet. “Trask! Do something.”
“No!” Adria cried. “I’m being silly; it’s only we didn’t think this day would ever come, not really.”
Clearly, at a loss over what to do when confronted with a crying female—something he could relate to quite well—Lana rushed forward and pulled his sister into her arms. “There, there,” she murmured while aiming a glare at him for some reason.
He held up his hands defensively. She’d been the cause of it, not him. Suddenly the entire situation struck him as funny, and he made the mistake of chuckling.
“Don’t laugh! She’s upset. Goodness gracious, Trask. Get some Kleenex, or pour her a Jack and Seven, but don’t just sit there laughing.”
He didn’t have a clue what she was asking him to do, and this only made him laugh harder.
By this time Adria was rational again. Sniffling, with a red nose, but fully lucid. “Forgive my brother. He often finds humor in the most bizarre situations. I cry, he laughs. We gave my father fits. In this instance, however, since he is rightfully overjoyed, I don’t blame him for once.”
“You're happy not upset about us?” Lana asked, surprise in her wide-eyed expression.
“Oh, yes, as I’ve said we never thought to see the day our males would find mates outside of Primaria.”
“But, I don’t understand. Won’t your females be angry if we take your men?”
“What good are we to them?”
Lana’s head snapped back.
“She means for breeding, paulova,” Trask quickly explained upon seeing her reaction. “They also want very much for our species to go on.”
“Oh, yes,” Adria replied, suddenly appalled. “I didn’t mean we weren’t valued in other ways. Most of my generation have accepted our lot, why would we blame you for helping us build a better future?”
His mate relaxed, and he thought it best to join her. It seemed when outside forces entered their private world, things tended to go awry. Before he could get up, blink, or even breathe, his sister, as if on cue, held out Lana’s dress discarded in their hasty homecoming celebration in the entryway earlier.
“This must be yours.”
He knew as soon as she uttered the words it was another wrong move. Lana snatched it up, her face suffusing with redness, and with an accusing glare in his direction—as if he were solely responsible for her embarrassment—dashed inside the house.
“Whatever did I say to upset her?” Adria asked while staring after her, appearing utterly baffled.
“It was the dress. These humans seem determined to keep what goes on between males and females private, like no one knows what they do while they’re alone. It’s quite amusing, actually.”
“She didn’t appear amused. Should you go after her?”
“I had planned to.” He rose with a heavy sigh, sorry the little interlude on the patio hadn’t ended as he would have liked.
“I’ll leave you, then. It’s your bonding time. Though let me know when you’re done breaching a dozen times a day. I’d like to get to know my new sister.”
“I’ll do that, little star. I was hoping you and Lana would be friends. But don’t mention breaching, and for the Maker’s sake, don’t infer how many times a day we do it. It’s another prickly spot for her.”
“Huh, they have some peculiarities, don't they? She is stunning, though, Trask, and her name, just as lovely.”
“I have indeed been blessed.”
Adria clasped her hand around his, squeezing tight. Tears shimmered in eyes identical to his own when she whispered, “For which I am grateful. I’ll let myself out and promise not to pop in anymore.”
“A little warning would be appreciated.”
A light blush painted her cheeks. Then, with her usual youthful exuberance, Adria smiled, waved, and practically bounced out the door calling out, “A sister! How very exciting.”
***
He managed to soothe Lana’s mortification over his sister’s discovery, and no other visitors interrupted them for the four bliss-filled days which followed. By the end of their bonding time, she felt more at ease with him but not enough to walk naked in front of him from the bathing room to the bed without her face flaming bright red. It still made no sense to him because she lost all her shyness when the passion darkened her eyes and her arousal took control.
Trask didn’t leave her side, doing everything together, including exploring their bathing pool which was bigger than the one she fell in rapture with on the Reliant. On day five, the morning of the formal dinner, he had to leave her briefly for a meeting at the capital center with his Princep and the elders.
“Krager’s mate is breeding,” Kerr told him without preamble while joining him on the footsteps of the capital center. No greeting or hesitation, he simply blurted it out while sporting a broad grin.
“But it has only been eight days. How can they know so soon?”
“She has been ill every morning since their arrival and he was understandably concerned. He took her to the clinic for evaluation. At first, they thought it might be an adjustment illness, a reaction to something in the environment or the food, but the tests were all negative. Jarlan had a hunch, and it panned out.”
“This is good news,” Trask replied with a broad smile of his own.
“The best.”
Although all the tests confirmed their compatibility, successful breeding between two species often had unknown variables. Where they had been optimistic before, now they had solid proof it was possible. Little wonder the Princep was grinning as though he were the father-to-be.
“What of Eva?”
His enthusiasm diminished the smallest bit as he shook his head. “How about your Lana, any dizziness, nausea, tenderness of the breasts? With human females, these are early signs, I’m told.”
“Not that I’ve seen or that she’s mentioned.” He shot his Princep a questioning glance, unable to deny the worry nagging at him for some time. “Your mate hasn’t transformed but experienced the breaching fire; mine was the opposite. Neither are breeding yet. Should we be concerned?”
“It is early yet, as you said. If you have doubts, see Jarlan.”
“I don’t want to worry her if there isn’t cause to.”
“He wants to follow them closely. Only yesterday he told me to bring Eva by for routine testing. And he plans to do the same with the others.”
This could work. It would allay his concerns and Lana never need know he had them.
Kerr slapped him on the back. “Our day will come, my friend. Until then”—he paused, heaved a sigh, and shook his head sadly—“we’ll merely have to do our duty as warriors and keep trying, morning, noon, and night, if need be, until it takes.”
As a slow grin broke across his friend’s face, Trask’s loud burst of laughter turned heads. Put at ease, for now, and with a plan to get answers, he walked up the steps and entered the capital center at his leader’s side.
Despite a lengthy often volatile meeting on how to move forward now that the Dauntless had returned, its mission successful, with 292 more human females on board, Trask tried to focus, but thoughts of his mate kept intruding.
She’d felt guilty about the eight of them unable to carry on with their mission. How would she react to this news, and the fact he had known for days and hadn’t told her?
***
Dinner with the Princep was once again an uncomfortable affair. Lana was happy to see her shipmates, but also shocked, a few she barely recognized. Dayna and Varta now had lavender eyes, Brenna’s previously fair complexion glowed with the same golden hue as her mates, like she’d spent a month at the beach. Mailynn’s red hair had broad streaks of midnight black that she’d have paid a fortune to get at a salon back home, and Thora, with the most startling change of all, arrived with a full head of jet-black locks without a strand of the silvery-white blonde she used to have in sight.
Only two of them showed no outward signs that a change had occurred.
Eva once again sat beside the intimidating Princep. She appeared more subdued than before until Eryn walked in with her mate. When they stood before Max Kerr, instead of accepting his felicitations, the security chief confronted her fellow officer. Lana had already moved down the row with Trask, so she didn’t hear everything clearly, but one word rung out like a photon blast—traitor. Eva couldn’t have looked more stricken if Eryn had slapped her. Then something more horrifying had occurred and reminded her this race of people who had claimed them, had a long way to go before being civilized.
Trask had moved closer and taken her hand, squeezing it in warning, as he whispered, “Not a word,” in her ear.
She didn’t have any trouble obeying his order, not speaking at all that she could remember, not to her shipmates, or to any of the elders, who thankfully hadn’t addressed her. She didn’t dare look at them in fear they might ask a question. She’d kept her eyes down through the introductions, not looking beyond their white robes, gripping Trask’s hand tight as he led her passed the row of a dozen men seated at the main table. When he took her to their seats, she was surprised it was at Max Kerr's right hand. But where else would the supreme military commander sit? It drove home for her how high Trask ranked in Primaria’s upper echelon.
Lana hadn’t eaten a bite, afraid it would come right back up, and the time crept by, making what was supposed to be a celebration, seem more like torture. Once home, where she wasn’t on display and Trask allowed her to speak her mind, she took advantage of it.
As soon as the doors to his residence closed behind them, she whirled to confront him. “She was wearing a collar, Trask. Oh my God!”
With a grim expression, he gazed down at her, and didn’t deny the awful truth. “The vocal silencer is an extreme disciplinary measure, I agree, but I’ve never seen Ram so harried. Things aren’t going well between them, as you predicted. Her behavior has pushed him to such measures, I’m afraid.”
“You’re actually excusing his behavior by blaming it on her? I cannot believe you?”
“Calm down, mate.”
“How can I? It was awful, barbaric, cruel.” Her voice shook when she asked her next question. “Is that what I can expect if I get out of line?”
His face visibly tensed, and his eyes darkened nearly to black before he bit out, “What have I done to make you think I would treat you that way?”
She stared at him silently for several beats before tears flooded her eyes and she whispered, “Nothing.”
He reached out, caught her wrist, and hauled her across the few feet separating them, pulling her into a tight embrace, which Lana returned. She slipped her arms around him, and buried her face in his chest, glad to be home, alone with him, where everything seemed right, and the world around them faded away.
“Please say we don’t have to go to any more of those horrible dinners.”
“I wish I could, Lana, but if I’m expected to go, you know I will have to do my duty. As my mate, you will be at my side.” One hand curved around the back of her neck, and he kissed the top of her head, his lips against her hair when he added, “These formal occasions don’t happen often, and from Kerr’s annoyed expression at the end of it, I suspect they will become rare.”
“Thank goodness.”
“Don’t think we can hide away at home forever, beautiful.”
“Why not? Haven’t you noticed, every time we interact with others, something happens? Here, with just the two of us, it’s—”
“A safe haven.”
“Yes.”
“It has only been a little over a week. A year from now we’ll look back on this time and laugh.”
“I hope you’re right, but that’s a long way away.” She tipped her head back. “Can we go to a mountain retreat somewhere, for, say…a year? Or the beach? Imagine a warm and sunny private spot where we can wear practically nothing, swim in the ocean together, and lay in the sun—um, suns. Sheesh, I’ll never get used to having two.”
The tension left his face, though his smile didn’t come as easy as it had these past few days. “Wearing practically nothing with you anywhere sounds idyllic, mate, but you must know running away isn’t possible.”
“You have duties,” she sighed, and was only half teasing when she suggested, “but I don’t. I could go off somewhere and you could visit when you’re not working.”
He aimed a scowl down at her that didn’t reach his eyes, but she knew he meant it when he said, “That is not happening. If I must endure this constant upheaval, so do you.”
She sighed in grudging acceptance. “Then I’ll have to find something to do to pass the time because I plan to go out as little as possible.”
“I can help with that.”
She patted his chest and laughed. “Thanks for the offer, General, but I meant when you aren’t here. I do plenty when you are, believe me.”
His arms tightened in an affectionate squeeze. “I’ll have Adria visit, and if you’d like, arrange for you to see some of your friends, or they can come here.”
“Would you? It might help to talk to others going through this. Sometimes I feel guilty for being happy.”
“Are you, mate? That’s what I’d hoped for.”
She nodded. “I am, except when I must attend those dinners. Or see how unhappy the others are. Do you think I could visit Mailynn or Thora? Things seem to be going well for them.”
“Which ones are they?”
“The two with the black hair.”
“Yes, Krager and Vardak’s mates. That can be arranged.”
“But I’d especially like to see Eva.”
He hesitated over this request. “I don’t know if that’s wise, Lana. She’s struggling with this too, not as much as Ram’s mate, but…”
“Then she’s probably in need of someone to talk to just like me. She is my dearest friend, Trask. Please.”
His eyes roamed her face a moment as he made his decision. “I’ll talk to Kerr and see what he thinks.” He dropped one arm and guided her to the stairs. “What does it say that I can deny you nothing?”
“That you like me? You really like me?” She giggled at her private joke, one he couldn't possibly understand. He didn't ask, only smiled indulgently, seeming genuinely happy as well.